I have this feeling again..

[Lothaeryn]

I really do think GW2 is the next evolution of the MMO as WoW was to EQ1. Some people can't see it, some people want to deny it, but it's coming. GW2 is in the EXACT spot WoW was, EQ was faltering, WoW swooped in with drastic changes and streamlined systems and exploded, GW2 is in the exact same position right this very moment.

And thus the lords of the Arena did cast their gaze upon the realm of Tyria, and looked to the heavens to see Azeroth's glory, but they did not see the shining star planet forevermore as it once was, for its brightness did fade.

This is exactly why I KNOW GW2 will succeed, this is why I know it will surpass WoW (at the very least equal it). They werent competing, they werent comparing themselves to Wow, they wanted to make a new game that they felt was fun, they wanted to take what worked. They are on the same optimistic footing as Blizzard was when they treaded into this new territory.

The reason why this game will succeed is because they are not trying to reach the hights of another games success, this is why every mmo so far since WoW has failed their original design plans, because they were designed to topple WoW. Arenanet thought differently, and decided to IMPROVE on what WoW already accomplished, and they are trying to remove what they think was the problem in previous MMO games.

Innovation is like evolution, survival of the most creative and adaptive to consumer demands.

Yes OP, I have the same feeling, I felt this feeling in the winter of 2004, I now feel it again in the winter of 2011-12

---------- Post added 2012-01-05 at 01:08 AM ----------

What the OP described reminds me a lot of a paradigm shift.
A paradigm is a viewpoint an entire community shares without questioning it.
A paradigm shift is a mayor change in this viewpoint.
An example of a paradigm shift is the change from a geocentric (sun revolves around earth) to heliocentric (earth revolves around sun) viewpoint.

A paradigm shift isn't a smooth shift, though, it's a crisis situation.
There are two camps (old versus new as the OP pointed out) who are trying to prove eachother wrong.
The sad part is that both camps have a different definition about what's right and what's wrong
Their opinions are completely irreconcilable.

This is what you are feeling right now.
The reason why the EQ to WoW shift felt the same is because it was the same, a paradigm shift.
The reason why nobody knows/cares about it is because our way of thinking completely changed when the paradigm shifted.
Everything fitted in the WoW paradigm, so people just adjusted their views to it.
This is why most people don't consider it as much of a change, but more as a logic next step.

I sincerely hope GW2 will get the chance to cause a paradigm shift in the MMO industry

Words of a wise man right here (not being sarcastic here, very good point) :P

[Loaf Lord]

my money is on the birthday release April 28

I pray you are correct.

[Deleted]

Well some of the - and not unimportant - people at Anet are former Blizzard devs. They know what they're doing. And not just them of course they have a lot of people there with a lot of experience in the MMO business. People from DAoC and the ones that used to work on GW1.

My expectations are pretty high but I also have no doubt that GW2 will live up to them. It's just one of those things where you just know it will be good...

[Squirrelbanes]

The quiet whisperings from a wow guild mate about this nebulous game called guild wars 2 slowly built into a raucous fanfare.
He spoke of no more trinity...which I didn't quite understand at the time…(what is this trinity and why is it bad), but I was intrigued. He spoke of a revolutionary new open-world questing system that reacted to me on a more personal level. He spoke of a world without competitive interaction with your fellow gamers. He spoke of this alien thing called cooperation because you no longer competed for gear or highest dps. He spoke in dreams.
The whispers became dreams that seeped into my sub-conscious, saturating it with growing interest and enthusiasm as I started to read about this thing that could, surely, only be the deluded rantings of some madman’s vision of paradise.

And then I watched trailer 1. And then 2 and 3. I was over-awed. And then....came the Manifesto where these wonderful people spoke in a language that seemed to resonate and harmonise with my soul. Everything I have grown disillusioned with in wow. These people…they knew.

And then, I stumbled upon other people who were as enthralled and excited as me

From that moment on...my crazy Asura elementalist has been itching at the back of my mind to burst free and cause mayhem

Fanboy rant over. Carry on

[Markluzz]

One thing is there is no reason to unsubscribe from wow if GW2 is free to play, you just buy the game. It has no raiding so you can play both at the same time, and not worry about time constraints. Similar to how you could play Starcraft 2, LoL, or Skyrim at the same time as WoW. It isnt killing WoW, and it technically cant dethrone wow (no subscriber base) but it can be successful in the selling of the actual game.

[Naxcis]

One thing is there is no reason to unsubscribe from wow if GW2 is free to play, you just buy the game. It has no raiding so you can play both at the same time, and not worry about time constraints. Similar to how you could play Starcraft 2, LoL, or Skyrim at the same time as WoW. It isnt killing WoW, and it technically cant dethrone wow (no subscriber base) but it can be successful in the selling of the actual game.

Just because there is no sub fee doesn't mean it won't take people from WoW. For me an MMO is defined by the community and that is dependant on how much people play the game, if GW2 takes the players time from when they would be playing other games then it will deminish the already declining community and become the more popular game. Less people spending time on WoW-Community decreases-Subs fade-GW2 becomes more popular

or maybe I'm just rambling, I'm sure some people will play both at once

[Loaf Lord]

One thing is there is no reason to unsubscribe from wow if GW2 is free to play, you just buy the game. It has no raiding so you can play both at the same time, and not worry about time constraints. Similar to how you could play Starcraft 2, LoL, or Skyrim at the same time as WoW. It isnt killing WoW, and it technically cant dethrone wow (no subscriber base) but it can be successful in the selling of the actual game.

If GW2 is superior to WoW, then there is no reason to stay subbed to an inferior MMO, waste of money.

[Fencers]

That whole inferior / superior thing is pretty subjective. Maybe someone will stay subbed to WoW or TOR because they also enjoy those games and like a change of pace.

The whole "One MMO" thing is kinda dumb. It's a hobby, play what makes you happy.

[Squirrelbanes]

there is no reason to unsubscribe from wow

I strongly disagree

Sub fee has little to do with it personally.

[SPeedy26]

Yea it was pretty good. I always been a dilettante when it comes to MMOs. I play intensely and then burn myself out, move to the next. Chronicles of Spellborn was quite good actually- some of the kinks had to be worked out but they never quite got the funding to run with the idea. Interesting little game though.

Edit: But I actually go back to MMOs after a while though. Heck, I went back to original EQ last year for a couple of months to check out the new stuff/feel. Revisiting Warcraft currently after a 2 year hiatus, and I don't find Cata unpleasant. But I am currently on break from Rift for TOR. Keeps games interesting for me. :d

Didn't wanna sound like I was bashing.

Wish I could have plays Chronicles of Spellborn :/ oh well

[worprz]

I really do think GW2 is the next evolution of the MMO as WoW was to EQ1. Some people can't see it, some people want to deny it, but it's coming. GW2 is in the EXACT spot WoW was, EQ was faltering, WoW swooped in with drastic changes and streamlined systems and exploded, GW2 is in the exact same position right this very moment.

Whats also funny to think about is that star wars galaxies was coming out around the same time and everyone thought that starwars was going to be the next big mmo because better story, bigger fanbase, etc.

[vilhelm1992]

i honestly haven't been so exited/blown away by a game in years, its the only game that for me personally ticks every box, with myself thinking i honestly cant think of anything i'd like to change about it i cant think of anything that i want that hasn't been covered, i remember thinking "they should have an open area of pvp were you can just go all out war-... oh wait WvWvW..." and it seems to happen for everything, and to top it all off it had a class which fitted my wants perfectly i just saw the name guardian and instantly knew it would be the class for me and after some research i confirmed that, i remember coming into wow from WC3 seeing the buildings being able to go in them, how epic wow felt to me back then but my excitement for GW2 blows that feeling away

[Deleted]

I agree with the sentiment that it feels like a new wave of (MMO) gaming is on the way...I know people have reservations about such ideas being premature - all I would say is, in many ways, the implementation is less important than recognising the things that need changing.

GW2 may fail (I hope not, and I expect not) but the concept of getting players collaborating rather than competing over kills and quest items is still valid.

We may not have seen the final product - but we have seen the list of things that anet believes impede peoples fun...and that list rings true for an awful lot of people who've had it with the established MMO way of doing things.

I've been playing SWTOR a lot recently - I'm enjoying the story, even if I find some of the gameplay aspects tiresome (traditional MMO concepts)...it occurred to me "wow, this game could look amazingly dated in a year or two from a gameplay perspective" - because of the trinity, competing over drops and kills, static quests etc...the story is great...but the gameplay is very contemporary MMO (I *wish* they'd copied off anet more). It feels like it released on the eve of the revolution and in a years time a lot more people will be aware that things can be done better...and perhaps find SWTOR just a bit clumsy and annoying.

[omlech]

I agree with the sentiment that it feels like a new wave of (MMO) gaming is on the way...I know people have reservations about such ideas being premature - all I would say is, in many ways, the implementation is less important than recognising the things that need changing.

GW2 may fail (I hope not, and I expect not) but the concept of getting players collaborating rather than competing over kills and quest items is still valid.

We may not have seen the final product - but we have seen the list of things that anet believes impede peoples fun...and that list rings true for an awful lot of people who've had it with the established MMO way of doing things.

I've been playing SWTOR a lot recently - I'm enjoying the story, even if I find some of the gameplay aspects tiresome (traditional MMO concepts)...it occurred to me "wow, this game could look amazingly dated in a year or two from a gameplay perspective" - because of the trinity, competing over drops and kills, static quests etc...the story is great...but the gameplay is very contemporary MMO (I *wish* they'd copied off anet more). It feels like it released on the eve of the revolution and in a years time a lot more people will be aware that things can be done better...and perhaps find SWTOR just a bit clumsy and annoying.

I think the bold part there is important, a lot of people can't wrap their heads around how things could possibly be different. Look at UO/EQ - WoW/SWTOR - GW2. If you look at each group there you'll notice that UO & EQ were all about a sense of freedom and adventure, so much was unknown, so much to discover with no rails so to speak, people had different experiences everytime they logged in. Then you look at WoW/SWTOR, both are very structured and linear now more so than ever. Not much of a sense of adventure and wonder because you're really not rewarded for going off the beaten path and finding something someone may have never seen before. You stick to your quests and they funnel you along, TOR more so than WoW since at least in WoW you still have some choice in the zones you level in. Now with GW2 it still has some form of structure to it, the developers show players what they want them to see, however not even the developers have control over what a player might see when they login. ANet is going back to the old days of MMOs with exploration, co-operation, and community as the building blocks of their game and for some this will be an entirely new experience, while for others it's something we've been dreaming of. Some people have a hard time understanding what this means, but when they finally do see it hopefully then they will understand what they've been missing.

[Orist]

Grrr. This is so tough for me. I really REALLY want to be super excited about this. But I also can't stand waiting. So I am half, about to burst with the awesomeness of what I have seen and read, and the other half of me is like "Calm down, it could be many many months until its even out". I do agree though that the game will influence how future MMOs are made and I hate to say revolutionize, but I do thing its very unique and I look forward to it. Hehe. When we get a release date though I think I might wet myself.

[Squirrelbanes]

Anyone from the UK will appreciate this post - reading this thread...I feel like the Churchill advert dog
I have neck cramp now.

[Heheumadhehe]

That whole inferior / superior thing is pretty subjective. Maybe someone will stay subbed to WoW or TOR because they also enjoy those games and like a change of pace.

The whole "One MMO" thing is kinda dumb. It's a hobby, play what makes you happy.

Well.. most people won't have time to play 2 mmo's at once.. they are pretty time consuming especially if you are having fun. I completely agree with the 1 mmo mindset. I especially won't pay a monthly fee only to be play another game half the time either.

[semantic]

...but the gameplay is very contemporary MMO (I *wish* they'd copied off anet more). It feels like it released on the eve of the revolution and in a years time a lot more people will be aware that things can be done better...and perhaps find SWTOR just a bit clumsy and annoying.

Some brilliant youtube animator needs to work up a spoof of the design process for SWTOR. Wide-eyed, creative low-level developers suggesting change to things that are basically alienating... Sith master with large green lightsaber (shape of familiar currency perhaps) berating them to just make it work, etc.. Too much fertile ground there to pass up.

[Deleted]

i hope it won't come to this http://www.southparkstudios.com/clip...reezes-cartman
the wait is killing me

[Loaf Lord]

That whole inferior / superior thing is pretty subjective. Maybe someone will stay subbed to WoW or TOR because they also enjoy those games and like a change of pace.

The whole "One MMO" thing is kinda dumb. It's a hobby, play what makes you happy.

Well obviously it's subjective. If I think an MMO is inferior to another MMO then I will not waste my time on the inferior product, same can be said for a lot of people. And not everyone has time to devote to multiple MMOs.